The Givenchy Haute Couture collection for spring-summer 2019 took place in the lower galleries of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. A jewel of Thirties architecture, the building is both majestic and yet seemingly weightless, with a grand portico and stairs descending to the Seine.
The permanent home to renowned works by Matisse, Braque, Dufy and the Fauves, this setting was illuminated by diffuse light, creating a three- dimensional ‘white cube’ for framing “Bleached Canvas”, Artistic Director Clare Waight Keller’s collection of odes to the natural world, defined by her singular couture vocabulary.
Clare Waight Keller’s vision is one of powerful femininity, calibrated through architectural volumes and graceful lines with deft handling of texture and light.
The GIVENCHY Haute Couture collection is an exercise in the purity of shape and line, rendered in black, white and pops of colour, in cobalt, Vermillion, bright yellow or ultraviolet.
For the first time since becoming Artistic Director of the House of Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller explores mini-volumes, juxtaposing them freely with oversized looks and flowing, flared constructions. Sculptural curves meet the rigour of line in draped tailoring with visual lightness and apparent simplicity that belies their technical intricacy.
The transparency of tulle and organza finds a counterpoint in chiselled peplums and flowing capes or liquid satin; organdy petals are pleated like origami while traditional laces such as guipure or Chantilly are modernized with lacquer finishes, articulations, and embroidery in relief. Judiciously placed tube beading, paillettes, trompe l’œil, tremblants, feathers, fringe and crystal embroideries illuminate silhouettes, while jewelled parures and precious bows are both striking and functional.
With “Bleached Canvas”, Clare Waight Keller furthers her philosophy of modern couture and broadens the distinctive GIVENCHY signature with an of-the-moment aesthetic that is hers alone.
